Websockets + socket.io on the ESP8266 w/ Micropython

I recently learned about the ESP8266 while at Pycon AU. It’s pretty nifty: it’s tiny, it has wifi, a reasonable amount of RAM (for a microcontroller) oh, and it can run Python. Specifically Micropython. Anyway I purchased a couple from Adafruit (specifically this one) and installed the Micropython UNIX port on my computer (be aware with the cheaper ESP8266 boards, they might not be very reflashable, or so I’ve been told, spend the extra money for one with decent flash).

EOMA68: The Best Computer for Off Grid Living - Protects Your Privacy and Very Low Energy Use

Linux & Whatnot - EOMA68 PCMCIA Modular Computer

3.5-inch SBC features Intel Skylake CPUs, dual GbE, dual mini-PCIe

Aaeon’s 3.5-inch form-factor “GENE-SKU6” SBC taps Intel’s 6th Gen Skylake-U SoCs, and offers Intel HD Graphics, dual GbE ports, and dual mini-PCIe sockets.

Aaeon has added a Skylake-powered board to its growing line of 3.5-inch style single board computers: the GENE-SKU6, built around the 6th Gen Intel Core i7/i5/i3 “Skylake-U” processors, clocked at up to 2.4GHz (3.0GHz Turbo) and featuring 15W TDPs. Aaeon’s 3.5-inch SBC family now spans more than a dozen boards, ranging from the GENE-5315 based on the geriatric AMD Geode LX, to models based on multiple generations of Intel processors ranging from Cedarview-based GENE-CV05 to the Braswell-based GENE-BSW5 released in mid-2015.

Not using smartphones can improve productivity by 26%, says study

Smartphones might be helping employees keep in touch with colleagues and do urgent tasks on the move, but using these devices at workplace actually make people less productive, says a new study by the Universities of Würzburg and Nottingham-Trent.

The study, commissioned by Kaspersky Lab, showed that employees’ performance improved 26 per cent when their smartphones were taken away. The experiment tested the behaviour of 95 persons between 19 and 56 years of age in laboratories at the universities of Würzburg and Nottingham-Trent.

The experiment unearthed a correlation between productivity levels and the distance between participants and their smartphones. “Instead of expecting permanent access to their smartphones, employee productivity might be boosted if they have dedicated ‘smartphone-free’ time. One way of doing this is to enforce rules such as no phones in the normal work environment,” says Altaf Halde, managing director - South Asia at Kaspersky Lab.

EOMA68 modular laptop/desktop raises more than $150 thousand through crowdfunding, here’s what’s next

The EOMA68 project is an effort to design a system of modular computing devices that use interchangeable PC cards. The processor, memory, storage, and operating system are all on a card that you can pop out of a laptop or desktop and replace with a different card.

Theoretically any type of processor and operating system can run from an EOMA68 card, but the project is also designed to support free and open source software, which restricts some of the hardware that can be used… so the when founder Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton took to Crowd Supply to raise money to begin production of the first PC cards and laptop and desktop shells, the focus is on first-gen cards with low-power Allwinner A20 processors, 2GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage.

Seeed Studio’s ReSpeaker Speaks All the Voice Recognition Languages

Seeed Studio recently launched its third Kickstarter campaign: ReSpeaker, an open hardware voice interface. After their previous Kickstarted IoT hardware, such as the RePhone, mostly focused on connectivity, the electronics manufacturer from Shenzhen now tackles another highly contested area of IoT: Voice recognition.

Open-source Piton CPU can scale into million-core system

Open Source SNES to USB Converter Lets You Emulate Legally

[Andrew Milkovich] was inspired build his own Super Nintendo cartridge reader based on a device we covered an eternity (in internet years) ago. The device mounts a real cartridge as a USB mass storage device, allowing you to play your games using an emulator directly from the cart.

25-core open source chip could pave way for monster 200,000-core PC

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY BOFFINS have developed a 25-core open source processor that can be scaled to create a monster 200,000-core PC stuffed with 8,000 64-bit chips.

The chip is called Piton after the metal spikes driven by rock climbers into mountain sides, and was presented at the Hot Chips symposium on high-performance computing in Cupertino this week.

New microchip demonstrates efficiency and scalable design

Researchers at Princeton University have built a new computer chip that promises to boost performance of data centers that lie at the core of online services from email to social media.

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Other Princeton researchers involved in the project since its 2013 inception are Yaosheng Fu, Tri Nguyen, Yanqi Zhou, Jonathan Balkind, Alexey Lavrov, Matthew Matl, Xiaohua Liang, and Samuel Payne, who is now at NVIDIA. The Princeton team designed the Piton chip, which was manufactured for the research team by IBM. Primary funding for the project has come from the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Manycore ‘Piton’ Climbs Toward 200,000-Core Peak

Open Source Hardware Comes of Age

Most people have at least heard of the term “open source” but the wide popularity of open source has been in software rather than hardware. Open source software is well known. Home computer users recognize it in downloads like Office Libre, GIMP, and the VLC media player. More serious computer users realize that much of the Internet itself was built on open source technologies like Linux and the Apache Web Server. Open source software can quickly be defined as source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance.

The Opposite of the EOMA-68 Modular Laptop

In the photos of the laptop that David exposed and is keeping functional, the complexity of the design is clearly apparent. Huge heat sinks and heat pipes, a densely populated and really quite large PCB on both sides (which is costly to manufacture). Chances of repair and ongoing maintenance: absolutely zero. The only reason that David is even considering keeping this machine going is down to years of experience with computers - something that most people simply do not have time to do.

By contrast, the EOMA68 Laptop Housing is kept to a bare minimum out of pure necessity: it’s a simpler design that’s been made using tools that the average electronics engineer could conceivably imagine owning… so that they can make or repair these devices, for themselves, or for other people.

The main PCB (PCB1) is only 6” square with a small extension for the USB ports, and is approximately only 30% populated with components, only on one side. PCB2 (for the keyboard and mouse) is very small and has around 30 components on it, and PCB3 likewise. Here are some pictures taken last year: the first shows the 3 PCBs wired together and assembled in the 3D-printed case, whilst the second is a partially-populated PCB (USB2 connectors in the top left corner to give an idea of scale).

Earth-friendly EOMA68 Computing Devices